"If I can stop one Heart from Breaking,
I shall not live in Vain;
If I can Ease one Life the Aching;
I shall not live in Vain."
I have a Solution that will reduce pressure on IIT aspirants but do not know how to get this across to HRD Minister of India. Suggestions are welcome. (Ram Krishnaswamy)

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Friday, September 30, 2016

58 Suicides In Last Five Years, What Is So Wrong With Kota Dream? - India Times

Giving up on her dream to become a doctor, another student ended her life, on Tuesday, in Rajasthan's Kota, known for coaching institutes competitive examinations.

The victim, identified as Sneha Suman (17), a native of Khagariya, Bihar, is among the twelve young people who chose to end their lives. Earlier, in April, 17-year-old Kriti Tripathi had committed suicide in her hostel room. Before her, ten other students did so.

Reportedly, 58 students have killed themselves in various hostels in Kota in last five years.

The dreams of becoming next Sunder Pichai, Satya Nadella and Naresh Trehan bring over 80,000 children to Kota every year. They become part of this USD 45 million coaching industry being run in this city of Rajasthan.

But what are the main reasons behind forcing youngsters, taking such an extreme step?

Parents' Expectations

There is a possibility that neither Kriti nor Sneha, who committed suicide were asked whether they wanted to become engineer and doctor respectively.

Parents generally force their children to take up professions including engineering and medical, considered to be job oriented.

Thinkstock

They put pressure on their children to become engineers or doctors. Majority of the fault also lies with system in India where people aren't considered successfull, if they don't end up becoming engineers, doctors or bureaucrats.

No Screening Test

Kota has over 130 institutes, which give coaching for various exams. While these institutes sell dreams, filling their coffers with a lots of money, they don't test a student's aptitude.

AP

The students, some interested and majority forced by their parents end up paying huge amount of money for reluctantly studying the science subjects.

“If we don’t admit them, some other coaching institute will pick them up. A second reason for not having a screening process is that no parent likes to hear that his/her child won’t make it to the IITs. They will push for it and say ‘Let him give it a shot, at worst one year will get wasted’," Pramod Maheshwari, who co-founded coaching institute Career Point, told The Quint after Kriti's suicide in April.

Huge investments and pressure of success

In order to make their wards successful, parents invest a considerable amount of money. On an average, a family roughly spends Rs 6 lakh per year for coaching in Kota. The average tuition free across the institutes being run in Kota is about Rs 2, 13, 000 along with an average of Rs 3.36 lakh as hostel fee and Rs 60,000 as fee for dummy school.

The Hindu

Most of the families who send their children to Kota are from middle class background and for them, paying such a huge amount annually is a daunting task. The student also feels this pressure.

Barren childhood and dummy schools

Majority of the students in Kota arrive in this city at a tender age of 12 or 13. Their parents get them enrolled in dummy schools, which they never attend. It means that when children of their age learn other things in life, they grapple with calculus and relative velocity for world's most competitive examination. They never experience a childhood, which teaches how to get up after you fall.

AP

By the time they reach 12th standard and get ready for their first litmus test in form of IIT-JEE or AIPMT, their parents end up spending Rs 15-20 lakh over five or six years. Many of these families take loans and if the student feels that his failure wouldn't only sink his future, but also of his parents and siblings, he decides to end his or her life.